Canadian angel and Bubba-Jo-Lynn: I'm with you....anyone other than Pronger is ok with me!

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Attachment 18765
A shout-out to Joe Nieuwendyk on his retirement! His back injuries finally made him pack it in. Three-time Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner showed us some great hockey. I respect him for deciding to leave the game for his own health and for his future with his wife and family. Smart man.

It was a shame Joe had to retire, but it's a good decision for the sake of his health.
Hopefully there's a place for him in some capacity in Florida, they could use all the help they can get.

I'd love to see Rory make it to the All-Star game.
The likes of Niedermeyer, Pronger and Lidstrom will be selected by the coaches/GM's anyway so it's not like he'd be taking their place.

Hockey fan's All-Star campaign snowballs.

Kevin Oklobzija
Staff writer

(December 9, 2006) — The voice mail message that Rory Fitzpatrick recently found on his cell phone from someone back in Rochester was so strange, he didn't know what to think.

"Rumor has it you're going to the NHL All-Star Game," the message said.

When it ended and his wireless provider offered the option "Press 7 to delete," Fitzpatrick pressed 7.

"The message didn't make any sense," said Fitzpatrick, the Irondequoit native who plays defense for the Vancouver Canucks.

Today it makes a lot of sense.

Thanks to Steve Schmid, an avid hockey fan from Auburn who never misses a telecast of a Buffalo Sabres game, Fitzpatrick is the subject of an amazing grass-roots ballot-stuffing campaign.

Schmid, 22, didn't like the manner in which the National Hockey League selects starters for the All-Star Game: online voting with no limit on how many times a person can vote.

Thus, he innocently posted a vote-for-the-little-guy suggestion on a hockey Web bulletin board in late November.

"The All-Star Game is a bit stale. It's always the same players going," Schmid said. "So I had the idea to get an unheralded guy into the game. A guy who has worked hard his whole career. Rory is perfect for that."

Thousands upon thousands of hockey fans apparently agree. In voting results released Wednesday by the NHL, Fitzpatrick, who isn't even listed on the ballot, ranks fifth in the Western Conference among defensemen.

That's right, a guy who has missed 13 of the Canucks' 29 games because of a broken foot, a guy without a goal or an assist this season, a guy who needed nearly eight years before he achieved full-time NHL duty, has more votes than eight well-established players who are on the ballot. "It's beyond my wildest dreams," said Schmid, who says he has voted for Rory a little more than 1,000 times.

Schmid's Web site, voteforrory.com, spurred others to vote. As of Friday evening, there had been more than 118,000 hits to the site. There were 32,000 in 24 hours. Late Friday afternoon, there were hundreds of hits per minute.

"To me, that seems ridiculous," said Fitzpatrick, somewhat embarrassed that he's the subject of the growing voting snowball.

"I'm surprised anyone even knew who I was."

He's absolutely flabbergasted by the voting. So far, there have been 144,819 write-in votes cast for Fitzpatrick. The top two vote-getters among defensemen will start in the Jan. 24 game in Dallas. Through Wednesday, Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings held the second spot with 317,373 votes in the Western Conference.

"I don't think there's any way to get that many votes," Fitzpatrick said. "People will continue to vote for the other guys — and deservedly so."

Perhaps he shouldn't think so negatively. Fitzpatrick garnered more votes (113,509) in the third week of balloting than any player in the West, proof that the campaign is gaining momentum.

"It speaks to how powerful the Internet is," said Sabres forward Chris Drury, who became friends with Fitzpatrick over the past two seasons when they were teammates in Buffalo.

The campaign is gaining steam. Schmid has been a guest on radio shows in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto.

There are spinoff "Vote For Rory" Web sites on [edit] MySpace and Facebook. There are images featuring a Fitzpatrick head shot superimposed on an Uncle Sam ad. "I want you to vote for me," it reads.

Canucks fans now bring "Vote for Rory" signs to games. When the Sabres played in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, there was another such sign in the crowd.

"He exemplifies the enthusiasm and love for the game," said Amerks coach Randy Cunneyworth, who for 19 pro seasons was the quintessential hard-working left winger. "Why not Rory? There's room for a guy who works hard and doesn't get the recognition."

Drury and his Sabres teammates learned last week of voteforrory.com and began phoning or sending their former teammate text messages.

"Now that you're injured, you must have a lot of time on your hands," texted Sabres equipment manager Dave Williams, a Rochester native. "What, do you have your kids voting for you online?"

Fitzpatrick assures he's not doing the voting.

"I have enough trouble turning my computer on," he said.

But teammates are voting. Goalie Roberto Luongo told The Canadian Press he's voted five times. Even coach Alain Vigneault says he cast a couple of votes for the defenseman who has only been played 16 games.

"It would be pretty neat if he wins," Drury said. "The write-in spot is there for a reason."

Fitzpatrick himself is having trouble grasping the concept of Vote For Rory. He doesn't know Schmid. Schmid doesn't know him, only that he wore No. 8 and played defense full time for the Sabres the previous 21/2 seasons.

Fitzpatrick is rather sheepish as he speaks about the voting. Should he be proud? Embarrassed? Thankful?

"I have a lot more questions than answers," Fitzpatrick said. "I don't know how to take it. I'm not going to look into it, so I'll never know if it's an honor."

He should take it as an honor, Cunneyworth says. "It tells him some of his hard work has been noticed."

Fitzpatrick's Canucks teammates think the Rory uprising is hysterical. They showed up for practice one day all wearing T-shirts that read "Vote for Rory."

Schmid admits he's worried the NHL will try to sabotage his campaign. The league may think someone has made a mockery of their All-Star Game by selecting a nondescript journeyman who has missed half the season.

"It's not like we're voting him into the Olympics," Schmid said. "It's an All-Star game, an exhibition for the fans. Lidstrom, (Scott) Niedermayer, (Chris) Pronger, they're going to get in anyway. ... I can't see why the NHL wouldn't want to run with the story. Everyone loves an underdog."

The NHL apparently agrees. Phone calls to the NHL office in New York were not returned but in an e-mail sent to The Canadian Press, spokesman Gary Meagher wrote: "The purpose of fan balloting is to give our great fans a voice in the selection of the all-star starting lineup. It should be no surprise at all that our passionate fans have responded to this opportunity with the same intensity they bring to the rink every night."

As far as Drury is concerned, any publicity is good publicity. The more votes Fitzpatrick receives, the better. "Maybe nonhockey fans would buy a paper or watch the news to see what it's all about," Drury said. "It can't hurt. Anything that brings attention to our game is good."

Despite the voting madness, Fitzpatrick isn't expecting to win. "I've made plans for All-Star weekend," he said, "and it's not to go to Dallas."

The daughter of Montreal Canadiens' general manager Bob Gainey is missing after a rogue wave washed her off a tall ship from Nova Scotia two days ago, the hockey club confirmed Sunday.

CBC News

Laura Gainey, 25, was swept off the Pictou Castle on Friday night. She wasn't wearing a life jacket or a survival suit, but the crew threw her life rings and life vests.
(Courtesy of Barque Picton Castle)
The club identified Laura Gainey, 25, as the woman who was washed off the deck of the vessel by a rogue wave during a storm Friday night, while about 760 kilometres southeast of Cape Cod, Mass.

Her father, a hockey legend, has been GM of the Habs since May 2003, returning to the team where he was a mighty presence as a left winger for 16 NHL seasons, from 1973 to 1989. At one point, a Soviet national team coach called Gainey the best all-around player in the world.

Daniel Moreland, the senior captain of the Lunenburg-based Picton Castle, said that as soon as Laura Gainey was washed into the water, crew members threw over rescue gear to mark the site and help her stay afloat.

"There's a lot of debris, a lot of life rings: ten or more life rings and life vests would have been thrown at her," said Moreland, who has been following the search from Mahone Bay, N.S.

Gainey, who hadn't been wearing a survival suit or life jacket, had been in the water for 33 hours as of noon Sunday.

The coast guard had earlier estimated she would be able to survive about 36 hours before dying of hypothermia, based on factors that include her age, her physical fitness and the water temperature of around 22 C.

Moreland said it was too early to give up.

"The water's warm. There's reason for hope," he told CBC News on Sunday. "As soon as someone goes over, it's very problematic to get them back, except if conditions are perfect, and conditions are far from perfect.

"But there are many cases of people being in the water for long periods of time as long as it's warm, so we're going to keep the search up."

Gainey is a volunteer on the vessel who is known to be a good swimmer, very fit and is "a well-loved crew member," Moreland said. He described her as "very dedicated, very hard-working and very passionate about being on the ship."

Search at crucial stage

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday that the search is in a crucial stage.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Faith Wisinski said aircraft resumed searching at first light and a U.S. coast guard vessel has searched through the night for Gainey.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Larry Chambers said an American C-130 search aircraft returned to the scene on Sunday, relieving the crew of a Canadian Coast Guard C-130 that had searched through the night.

A merchant tanker has also helped in the search, which has covered more than 1,900 square kilometres.

Pitch black hampered rescue

When she went overboard, Gainey was not wearing survival gear or a life-jacket.

Moreland said by all accounts she was where she should have been on the vessel, seeking shelter from the storm.

The captain said it was pitch black at the time, making it almost impossible for the crew of 29 to see her.

The tall ship was four days into a voyage to Grenada, travelling along the Gulf Stream, when it encountered bad weather.

Gainey called best all-around player

Gainey's father is probably best-known for his relentless style on the ice, which spurred the NHL to create a new post-season award, the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the top defensive forward. Gainey won it for each of the first four years it was presented.

He inspired Soviet national team coach Viktor Tikhonov to call him the world's best all-around player after the 1976 Canada Cup.

Gainey helped the Canadiens win five Stanley Cups and was named captain before the 1981-82 season.